Manchester United Target Top-Level Brazilian Striker Kaua Elias

Manchester United’s summer rebuild is not finished yet. Far from it. While midfield and goalkeeping gaps have taken early priority, the club’s recruitment team has quietly turned its gaze to a 20-year-old in Ukraine who just delivered the kind of performance that makes scouts sit up straight.

On Monday in Lviv, Shakhtar Donetsk forward Kaua Elias scored a perfect hat-trick in a 5-1 demolition of Kudrivka. Left foot, right foot, header. One of those nights where every touch seems to underline a scouting report.

In the stands, according to reports, were representatives from some of Europe’s biggest clubs. Among them: Manchester United and Arsenal.

United step up interest

United’s scouting department had been sent specifically to watch Elias up close after a run of promising displays for Shakhtar. Their feedback to Old Trafford, as reported, was emphatic: this is a striker with the potential to grow into a “top-level centre-forward”.

The assessment went further. Elias has been described as “highly compatible with United’s press-heavy, fast-transition system” – exactly the profile the club has been chasing to modernise its attack.

Shakhtar, unsurprisingly, are in no rush to let him go on the cheap. The Ukrainian club are understood to value the Brazilian at around £30 million, and with more than one heavyweight circling, that figure will not be negotiated down easily.

United are now expected to firm up their interest with an official offer.

Numbers that back up the buzz

Elias only joined Shakhtar from Fluminense in 2025, but he has wasted little time making an impression. He has 12 goals and three assists in 39 appearances – solid numbers for a young striker still adapting to European football and the demands of a club that expects to dominate domestically.

Monday’s hat-trick felt like a statement. A showcase not just of finishing, but of variety and movement. Exactly the kind of all-round forward play that convinces clubs to accelerate their plans.

It needed to be. Because United are not alone.

Arsenal, Milan and Porto in the frame

Arsenal have been tracking Elias for several weeks, monitoring his development and performances closely. Their interest is serious enough to complicate any straightforward path to Old Trafford.

AC Milan and Porto are also in the conversation. Rossoneri executives are said to be weighing up a bid, while Elias’ representatives have already received what have been described as “concrete signals” from multiple suitors.

The player is believed to be open to a move into one of Europe’s elite leagues. The question is not whether he moves, but where.

Carrick’s forward line needs an answer

Back at United, Michael Carrick’s squad planning leaves a clear gap up front. Benjamin Sesko stands as the only recognised out-and-out centre-forward in the senior group. That is a thin platform on which to build a season that will demand depth, rotation and different attacking options.

Joshua Zirkzee is expected to depart, with Juventus showing strong interest. If that move is completed, United’s need for another striker shifts from important to urgent.

The club have acted decisively in midfield, bringing in Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans to add energy and control. But the rebuild is incomplete. Recruitment plans still include a third midfielder, a full-back and, crucially, a striker who can grow into a long-term solution.

Elias, at 20, fits that brief on paper: young, mobile, aggressive in the press, with room to develop and resale value built in.

A window still moving

The reshaping of the squad has not been limited to outfield players. On Friday, goalkeeper Altay Bayindir joined Celta Vigo on an initial loan, with the La Liga side holding an option to make the deal permanent for £3.5m. It was another sign of a club trying to trim, refresh and re-balance its options.

All of which places added weight on the next attacking signing. United cannot afford another misstep at centre-forward. Not with rivals strengthening and the margin for error narrowing.

So the image lingers: a 20-year-old Brazilian in Shakhtar orange, wheeling away after completing a perfect hat-trick in Lviv, while scouts from England, Italy and Portugal scribble in their notebooks.

If United decide he is their man, the next move will not be made in silence.